Saved
by PanicMoon15
Summary: Draco was terrified. Just when he thought it was all over, someone saved him; someone he hadn't seen for 10 years.


Draco was scared. Why shouldn't he be? He was a sixteen year old boy standing on the top of Hogwarts astronomy tower, surrounded by death eaters telling him he had to do it. Telling him he had to kill Dumbledore; his own headmaster. Draco was shaking, his wand outstretched, aimed at the old man.

His aunt, Bellatrix, came up behind him and leaned her head over his shoulder, always keeping her eyes on the Headmaster; she whispered into Draco's ear, making him shiver. "Do it, Draco. Kill him" A tear escaped the confines of Draco's grey eyes and ran down his usually composed face, before dripping from his jaw onto the floor somewhere beneath him.

Draco swallowed and found himself defying his aunt and lowering his wand. He turned to look at Bellatrix and shook his head before running back into the castle, down the spiral staircase of the tower.

"Coward!" he heard her scream after him.

Snape sprinted past him in the opposite direction, gave Draco a blank stare but did not stop him as he continued on his decent. Even through his blurred vision caused by the many unshed tears, Draco could see someone ahead of him; Potter. He attempted to sprint past him but Potter grabbed his arm. They looked at each other, neither saying a word.

"Avada Kedavra!" Snape's voice echoed throughout the tower and the flash of harsh green light caused Potter to let go of Draco who ran past him, down the final flight of stairs and into the castle itself.

Draco stopped in his tracks as he saw the semi-circle of Order members there to greet him. He panicked and turned to run the way he came finding his old DADA teacher Remus Lupin blocking his way. The sound of celebrating Death Eaters was growing louder and he whimpered quietly at the sound of his Aunt's voice.

"Get the boy! Get the Coward! Tell Lucius his son is mine! I will punish him!" she squealed.

Draco glanced around at the people in front of him. "I- please" he stuttered out, unable to form any sort of coherent sentences in his current state. He was unsure what he was asking for; help or mercy. Either way, someone pushed to the front of the group; a woman with dark purple, shoulder length hair. She smiled at him sadly and held out her hand. Draco stared at her, his brows knitted together. She was familiar.

"Draco" she said softly and Draco suddenly realised who she was. Her eyes changed from their previous purple (matching her hair) to a shining grey like his own.

"Dora?" she grabbed his hand and Draco found himself being dragged through reality as the wind was knocked out of him. His feet landed on solid ground and despite everything that had happened he found the only question on his lips was "How did we apparate out of Hogwarts?"

Tonks looked over at him and smiled. "Because I'm awesome. Oh, and don't call me Dora, Draco. It's Tonks"

He nodded and quickly realised that he was still holding his cousin's hand; he didn't let go. She followed the other Order members into a house which Draco was being told belonged to the Weasley's. At this point Draco was still to terrified to make any sort of snide comments and simply allowed himself to be led into the house. Tonks, still holding his hand, sat him and her down on a tattered old sofa at one end of the living room; the others found various chairs and floor space to crown round them. They watched him intently and Draco knew they still didn't trust him; he was the son of a Death Eater after all.

He attempted to compose himself by retracting his hand from his cousin and sitting up straighter, although he was sure this made little or no difference to his appearance as tears continued to track shining lines down his chiselled face.

"You remember me then?" Tonks asked, smiling at him, encouraging him to talk.

"Of course. You're my cousin" he found himself weakly smiling back.

"I can assume you only remember me because your family's distaste" she said slightly bitterly. "You're lucky I saved you tonight"

"I know" Draco said quietly. "But I don't remember you just because of what my family says; I just didn't recognise you at first. It has been 10 years"

"Yes" she smiled weakly. The rest of the people in the sitting room were now apparently more concerned over other things than the threat of Draco. Many had left and the remaining few were frantically talking or writing letters. Dumbledore was dead; and that could not be good for anyone. Arrangements were being made.

"I was only a kid when I last saw you" Draco said, attempting to make some form of small talk.

"You're still only a kid now" Draco opened his mouth to protest but found he had no evidence to suggest otherwise. Tonks looked him in the eye, searching for something. He watched as her eyes melted into several different colours: purple to blue to grey and back again. "Why didn't you do it?" she asked finally.

Draco thought for a minute, looking briefly at the worn carpet for answers which weren't there. "I'm not a coward" he stated. "I just don't want to be like _them_."

Draco watched as Tonks' eyes flicked to his left arm. He pulled up his left sleeve and Tonks flinched, scared of what she expected to see. "See" Draco said almost desperately. "I'm clean; it was going to happen tonight, if I had done it".

Tonks held her cousin's arm and traced her fingers over the pale, unmarked flesh. Despite not seeing the boy in 10 years she felt a swell of pride and a smile broke out across her face. She let go of his arm and searched his face again; he was still terrified, not that she blamed him. She brushed the silvery blonde hair from his face and let her hand rest on his cheek.

"I'm scared" Draco said so quietly that Tonks was sure she only understood him because she was watching his lips form the words.

"Don't worry." Tonks whispered back "I'll look after you. I promise."


End file.
